Raging Bull

The film Raging Bull tells the story of an italian middle weight boxer Jake LaMotta.  The black and white sets a specific tone to the film that i believe cannot be achieved with color.  It gives a certain dullness and simplicity to scenes.  You are not distracted by bright colors and only see the characters and their story.  The scenes where Jake is in the ring fighting, the dark shading adds a dramatic and serious element.  Through black and white, the story seems more real which draws the viewer in.  The dark blood that runs down their light faces is eerie and realistic.  I feel like i cant entirely explain it, but there is a different feeling that you get out of a black and white film opposed to a color film.

I was not in class for any day that Long Voyage Home was watched, so i do not know much about it other then what my classmates explained to me and that it was a part of the black and white film lesson.

Saw

Over the weekend, i watched Saw 1 and 2 with a few friends.  I haven't seen any of the Saw series in the past, and was actually surprised on how it held my attention with suspense and twists.  The gore wasnt too bad and i felt that it wasnt over done with exaggerated blood and guts.  Although for those who dont have a strong stomach, some parts will make you cringe or even look away as I did a few times.  It was more then just a cliche modern torture horror movie which main objective is to gross out the viewer as much as possible.  Overall, the concept is very clever.  The main idea of the movies are that people who are "undeserving" of their life are put to the ultimate test.  It is all up to them whether they live or die.  People are locked in a room, or in the second movie a house, where they have to use their brains as well as their will power to live.  The first movie keeps the mastermind Jigsaw as a mystery, only knowing that he is behind all the puzzles and the game.  I usually like to think that I'm pretty good at predicting endings of movies (especially horror movies), but I honestly did not expect the twist at the end.  The second Saw goes deeper into his mind and the viewer gets an idea of why he created this game.  As long as the victims play by the rules, he lets them live.  He makes it clear that he wants them to survive and go on living with a new perspective on life and hopefully start valuing every day from now on.  What most terrifies me is that Jigsaw just sets up the puzzles, then sits back and watches the victims destroy themselves.  In making a series of the Saw movies, the writers have created a memorable character, Jigsaw.  These movies also make you ask yourself what would you possibly do in situations like these.  It also does a good job in capturing believable human emotion and what an average person might do in these situations.  There is currently five Saw movies out so far with Saw 6 coming out in theaters soon and a Saw 7 in production.  I am definitely curious to see how the rest of the movies are but i have a feeling they might get old after a while, but i could be wrong.

Tristram Shandy

The humor in Tristram Shandy was unfamiliar to me and apparently other classmates.  The dialogue between the english actors such as in the opening scene seemed like pointless rambling and dry humor.  I was at first confused with the plot and even trying to figure out if there was one at all.  The concept of making a movie about actors making a movie is interesting but at times hard to follow, especially with Steve Coogan playing himself acting as two different characters in the movie.... within a movie.  I actually missed the last day of watching this film because I left for Ireland for two weeks which is also why i missed Long Voyage Home.